Stopped
by colobonema
Summary: With Sorcery, a moment of snatched time can stretch on and on... until she decides to release it. Postgame, Rinoa/Squall one-shot.


Disclaimer: I make no claim whatsoever to the characters or world of Final Fantasy VIII, which is the property of Squaresoft/Square Enix.

* * *

**Stopped**

The first time she did it, it was involuntary.

Well, almost.

She had been in the cafeteria. The horribly familiar pause in conversations at the cadets' tables, even at the faculty ones, had struck the moment she walked in. There was the scrape of chairs as shoulders turned and necks craned. Then the hubbub slowly rose again, carrying whispers that always reached her.

"The Commander's girlfriend-"

"You mean the Garden's pet Sorceress."

"Even witches need to eat, huh?"

She had closed her eyes as she gripped her melamine tray, wishing for them to shut up. To stop.

And they had.

She'd opened her eyes in surprise at the instant onset of silence, to see the occupants of the cafeteria frozen in mid-motion. Forks hovering in the air in front of mouths, cups held at arm's length, all completely static. Even the serving ladies, one with her ladle submerged in a vat of soup, one pressing a button on the drinks machine, were unmoving, eyes unblinking.

They were Stopped. All of them.

She'd used Stop in battle of course, in the form of para-magic before she inherited her Sorcery. It had always been limited to one target, lasting only for a set period. Rinoa had watched the spell weaken and fade every time. She'd never thought it was very useful, in all honesty. Until this moment she hadn't known how different a Stop spell cast with Sorcery would feel. How could she?

Because this _was _different. Every person she could see in the entire cafeteria was motionless. Silent. She waited for the spell to fade, even as she was sure that it wouldn't. Rinoa waited, and waited some more, as the realization hardened: this was hers to control.

She smiled, and released the magic. Forks started to move again, drinks were gulped down. The murmur of conversation grew and swelled around her again.

Nobody knew. Except her.

* * *

The next time, she planned it.

She was sitting on the bed in Squall's quarters, when it occurred to her that she could Stop the Garden any time she felt like it, wander around freely, and no-one would ever know.

She reached for the spell in her mind. There it was, the feeling of Time rolling in front of her like a mill-wheel, grinding round and round. All she had to do was push her fingertips against it, and it stopped moving. It lay meekly under her fingers, waiting for her command.

She glanced at Angelo, asleep at the foot of the bed. The dog's ears had been twitching as she slept, but were now perfectly still. Rinoa reached out to ruffle the fur on Angelo's neck.

Nothing. She was Stopped.

"Sorry, baby girl," Rinoa whispered. She stuffed her feet into her slippers and left the room.

* * *

She passed two people in the corridor, a sweaty male cadet returning from the training center, and a female Instructor, a wad of test papers in her hands. Rinoa slipped around them, marveling at the way neither blinked nor moved.

She wondered where to go next. Hadn't this been a game she'd played in childhood? _Where would you go, if you were invisible for the day? _Well, now she was.

She headed for the elevator, and quickly realized she would not be able to use it. A freckled, dark-haired male SeeD stood in the entrance, holding the door open for another SeeD who was frozen in mid-jog halfway along the corridor. Rinoa turned towards the stairs.

She descended two floors before spotting a couple huddled against the corner of the stairwell, a pair of cadets locked in a furtive embrace. Rinoa walked closer and studied them with a voyeur's curiosity. She recognized the girl, a sullen-faced junior cadet who had a habit of muttering "witch" within Rinoa's earshot. Now the girl's harsh blue eyes were soft, half-closed as the boy's lips hovered only a few millimeters away. Rinoa wondered if they had just kissed, or were just about to. Maybe for the first time.

_She can't be more than fourteen, _she realized._ Why do I let myself care what she thinks of me? Or what any of them think?_

Rinoa was gripped by a childish urge to pull some kind of prank on the pair. To tip them both over to the floor perhaps, or to move the boy's hand to the girl's breast. Squall's frowning face flashed into her head. _Okay, okay, _she told him. _I wasn't really going to. _

She carried on down the stairs, and made her way to the Quad.

Rinoa stepped out into a still, windless night, and saw a huddle of cadets sitting cross legged by the tree, Triple Triad cards laid out in front of them. She walked over to the group and peered at the cards in their hands. The curly-haired girl was sure to win, she decided. Her hand was by far the strongest. Rinoa fought off the desire to switch the cards around: to change a Bite Bug for a Tiamat, an Iguion for a Funguar. The temptation was overwhelming, but she resisted. One of the players, an older boy, was holding a plastic bottle near his mouth. Rinoa sniffed it. Beer. He'd kept the soda label on the bottle, and carefully refilled it from a smuggled beer can. She ought to tell Squall, really.

Squall. What was he doing, she wondered? He always worked so late. She'd long given up expecting him to finish in time to eat dinner together, many months before. She felt a pull of curiosity to see exactly what it was that kept him in the office each night. She returned to the stairs, and started climbing, passing the cadets on her way, still moments away from their stolen kiss.

* * *

The door to the Commander's office was electronic, but didn't respond to Rinoa's presence. The implication settled on her for a moment. Her Stop spell had affected machines as well as living things. The entirety of the Balamb Garden campus was captured in a bubble of paused time, at her command. It sent a thrill down her spine, as well a twinge of guilt. What would Squall think? She pushed hard at the door until it yielded and slid open.

Quistis was standing by the window, her arms folded, her face weary. Xu's palm was frozen mid-slam on the Commander's desk, her expression hidden to Rinoa. And Squall's head was bent over a pile of documents, his hand moving back and forth as his pen scrawled out notes in his neat, tiny script-

His hand. Moving. _Oh, crap._

"Squall, I... Sorry."

He didn't look up. "I was ninety-nine percent sure it was down to you, but thanks for confirming it."

She walked around to the back of his desk and laid hesitant fingertips on his back. "I was just-"

"Don't bother explaining, Rin. It doesn't really matter."

He wasn't mad. Good. She slid her arms around his shoulders. "So when time grinds to a halt for no clear reason, you just figured it was a good chance to catch up on your paperwork? No wonder Cid won't accept your request to be released as Commander. He'll never find another one as devoted as you."

She felt his shoulders tense. "I've been trying to get this done all evening, but I keep getting interrupted by angry people."

Rinoa snuck a glance at Xu's flushed face, twisted in outrage.

"Xu looks mad," she agreed.

"We were having an incredibly riveting discussion about next year's training budget."

"So my Stop spell wasn't unwelcome?"

"Not entirely, but you can't do this again, Rin."

She pouted. "I know. I've already said sorry." She stroked his hair at the back of his neck. "I wonder why it didn't work on you, though."

Squall put his pen down and tilted the chair round to face her. He looked tired. "The bond, I assumed."

"How so?"

"Being your Knight means I've got traces of your magic running through me. So I suppose it would make it possible for me to fight off offensive spells, if you cast them on me. Sort of like a chocobo pox vaccine."

Rinoa ran a teasing finger down his cheek. "Is that what I am to you? Chocobo pox?"

He almost smirked at that. It was as if one side of his face wanted to, while the other tugged it back into line. Squall tilted his head, pretending to consider the question seriously. "No, that's not a fair comparison."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"People get over chocobo pox and move on with their lives. I don't think anyone ever manages to do that after meeting you."

She bent her head and kissed him on the lips. "That was _almost _the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."

"It was, wasn't it?"

His arms found their way to her waist, and he pulled her in for another kiss.

Rinoa broke free and grinned at him. "D'you wanna go and make out in the Quad or somewhere, with everyone Stopped all around us, just for the hell of it?"

"No, I really don't."

"Why not?"

"It'd be weird," he pointed out. "Also, what if you get carried away in the moment and lose your hold on the spell? Everyone would see us."

"You sound pretty confident in your making-out skills, Commander."

"It's a no, Rinoa."

"Fine. How about a walk? Just for a few minutes before I let everyone get back to normal?"

"All right." He let her pull him up by the hand, and followed her out of the office.

* * *

The ballroom was dark, empty, cavernous. Rinoa led Squall to the center of the floor and took his other hand.

"We could dance."

He unlaced her fingers. "Rin, you said a 'walk'. Don't bring me here under false pretenses."

She tried not to sigh, and walked over to the balcony. The footsteps of his heavy boots echoed across the ballroom floor as he followed.

Rinoa leaned over the edge of the balcony, inhaling the night air. She turned her head to the sky.

"If we stay out here long enough, we might see a shooting star again."

Squall was at her side now. "Not when you've Stopped time, we won't."

She turned to face him in disbelief. "You think I've Stopped the _stars_? All those light years away?"

Squall shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past you."

He said it so matter-of-factly, as if it was nothing. She had Stopped the universe from turning round, and all he did was shrug.

"Doesn't that... scare you?"

Squall's eyes met hers, unsmiling. "Rin..." He leaned closer, until his lips were near her ear. "The only thing that scares me about you is your cooking."

She pushed him in the chest. "That was uncalled for. Mean, in fact."

"That's what happens when you ask stupid questions." Squall slipped an arm around her shoulder and looked up at the thin sliver of moon. "I'm not afraid of you," he said quietly. "Never have been. Never will be."

Rinoa leaned into him, and stared out at the unmoving clouds. They stood in silence for a long while, and she relished it. Just him, and just her. A sweet, painful glimpse of how different things could be.

"Squall, I'm not..."

_I'm not happy here. _How easy it would be to say it. All she had to do was add two more words.

She looked at him, at his eyes, gray and tired. She thought about how hard he worked, how many burdens he was carrying. Did he really need to carry her problems too?

"Not what?"

"I... Never mind. I'm going to break the spell. I promise I won't do it again. Let's go back to your office."

"All right."

She made to turn round, to return to the ballroom, and his hand stopped her.

"Wait."

Squall pulled her arms into his and bent to kiss her, and for a moment she was transported to their very first kiss, right there on the same balcony almost a year ago.

His lips left hers, and she murmured, "What was that for?"

"Thanks. That's all." He smiled, a true smile that broke through his exhaustion. "You don't have to stop time to talk to me, Rin."

"When else are we going to get a moment to ourselves?" She meant it as a joke, but it came out with a bitter edge.

"I'm trying. I am."

"I'm sorry, Squall. I know how hard you work. I-"

He looked away. "Forget it. Let's go back."

They held hands, but did not speak, as they walked through the silent Garden, and Rinoa kissed him on the cheek before leaving him in his office to face the remainder of Xu's diatribe.

Rinoa slipped quietly back into bed, and searched for Time's wheel in her mind. She gave it a gentle push, and it started to move again.

Angelo's ears twitched, the world turned, and Rinoa Heartilly was at Time's mercy once more.

* * *

A/N: This story is a precursor to Angel's Scar, a fic I've recently started posting. If you're reading that one, it takes place a few weeks before the first chapter. But if not, hopefully it works as a stand-alone story too. Feel free to let me know if you think it did/didn't! Reviews are always welcome! Thank you for reading. -colobonema


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